


When The Clock Strikes 12

by LoosenYourCorset



Series: The After Hours [1]
Category: Bandom, Fall Out Boy
Genre: I will not apologize for my autumn t-shirt pun, M/M, Mystery, Other, it just came to me
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-14
Updated: 2017-08-13
Packaged: 2018-12-15 02:49:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11796864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoosenYourCorset/pseuds/LoosenYourCorset
Summary: Patrick lives in a department store. He's only real at night.Pete becomes a regular patron.-Series name taken from an episode of The Twilight Zone.





	When The Clock Strikes 12

There was something so refreshing about the seasons changing, especially when the season was changing from summer to autumn. The temperature dropped to a reasonable degree. The leaves on trees when from vibrant shades of green to rich shades of brown, red, yellow and orange; They fell to the ground slowly on some days, quicker on others. Quicker on most days in Chicago, where wind was rather legendary. Pete Wentz was a big fan of fall. He bought new clothes, obsessed with everyone else over the flavor of pumpkin spice being incorporated into almost everything, and prepared for Halloween and Thanksgiving as early as possible. He had always been partial to it because he just felt better when it wasn't sweltering outside, and the colors of autumn very much suited his skin, eyes and hair. His whole demeanor changed, as well as his wardrobe.

This was how he found himself in a department store called Sweat It Out, a store that was only open in Chicago during the colder months. Being where they were, they actually managed to do a pretty decent amount of business. They sold sweaters (who could have guessed?), jeans, anything you could wear to cover up as the days of the year got colder and longer. Surprisingly enough, Pete had never been to Sweat It Out before. Being one of the earlier days of September, they had just opened and foot traffic was still just a little slow. He was only one of maybe five people inside the store, milling about and checking out the options.

"Can I help you?" a voice asked, belonging to a fair woman coming out of a storage backroom.

"No, no thank you. I'm just looking," Pete called back.

He passed row after row, rack after rack of niche sweaters based around fall and the holidays therein. Every few sweaters, he would find one in a particularly vibrant color and pick it up just to see what it felt like. A few of them had cute sayings on them. Things like, 'I'm falling for you!', with a decorative red leaf smiling from the pale brown fabric. He almost bought it, but his eye caught something else instead.

Across the store, a group of mannequins displayed different outfits. One had on a blazer and jeans, another a thick cotton dress with some tights and a scarf. But one in particular seemed to draw Pete in. All of the mannequins were colored different skin tones, but this one was almost ethereal. Pale. His eyes were painted green, little specks of blue and yellow thrown in. Someone took great attention to detail when putting him together, obviously, and Pete tried not to be quite so enamored by him... It. It was just an object. A mannequin. Pete grabbed the white fleece sweater on the display table beneath the mannequin. It was soft and warm and beautiful, and he was inclined to purchase it. Which he would.

As he walked away, he pretended not to feel those emerald eyes following him all the way to the checkout desk. After he paid, near the door, he couldn't help but look back again. Defying all known rhyme and reason, the mannequin's head had in fact moved just slightly to the left, its eyes pointed at the door.

~

When Pete got home that night, his roommate Gabe was sitting on the couch eating dinner. This was in spite of the fact that Pete had told him many times not to do that, especially if he was eating egg drop soup. And of course he was.

"Saporta," he muttered as he walked into the apartment. It wasn't small, nor large. Rather perfect for two single people, honestly.

"Hey, dude. How was work?"

"Fine. Listen... Well, first of all, before I get to my thing, get off the fuckin' couch," he ordered, to which Gabe rolled his eyes. He did, though, if only to rid himself of Pete's bitching. "Thank you. Listen, have you ever been somewhere and you just... You get the sense that something about the atmosphere is off?" Pete asked, shooting his roommate a look.

"Off?" came Gabe's reply. "In what way?"

"Just, like. You know something shouldn't have happened, and yet it did. You know? Like something unexplainable."

Gabe took a moment to mull the inquiry over. "...Not really. My grandmother once said she could talk to animals, but. She was no Dr. Doolittle," he shrugged. "Why? What weird shit happened to you today?"

Pete held up his bag from Sweat It Out. "I don't know... This strange thing happened while I was buying a sweater, and I can't really figure it out."

Without waiting for another reply, Pete went into his bedroom and shut the door. He promptly fell asleep, new sweater now hung up in his closet just waiting to be worn somewhere. For whatever reason, he felt himself stir awake around midnight. He looked around and felt an atmospheric shift...but ignored it, and tried to go back to sleep.

Across town, at the department store, a small group of mannequins began to awaken as well.


End file.
